A game between Winslow United and Harlow Town was always going to be one that sparked interest. Winslow had started their season excellently in the Spartan South Midlands league, and found themselves top of the league. The Hawks, on the other hand, have had a mixed start and sat 16th prior to the game.

Unfortunately for the reds, the game would be nothing short of a disastrous ninety minutes, shipping four and going down to ten men. Receiving three red cards in two games pretty much sums up our recent fixtures. It has been torrid, and I personally hope that it is a stage in the season that we can put behind us and improve soon.

Players that have played for Harlow this season but were not available for Saturday’s game include Louis Stead, Syrus Gordon, Fabion Simms, Jack Cousins, Stef Georgiou, Mitch Hahn, Dwade James and Gavin Cockman. As well as this, Ishaq Ameen made his return to the club on Thursday evening, but was also unavailable.

The game started with Winslow dominating the 50/50s, and Harlow struggling to get into the game, which was symbolised by an early goal from Ryan Freshwater in which he punished Harlow’s poor defending of a corner at the back-post.

Just six minutes later, Winslow doubled their lead as Harry Scott chopped onto his left foot and smashed it past James Pellin at the near-post from close range.

Aaron King, who had been Winslow’s best player throughout the game, forced a solid save out of James Pellin as his shot from distance had to be tipped over the bar.

Mid-way through the first-half, Winslow made it three as George Kerr curled a header into the top-right corner in clinical style as Harlow looked all over the place, giving Kerr a free header.

Harry Scott nearly added insult to injury with a back-post effort that James Pellin managed to keep out.

Josh Gruby registered Harlow’s first proper attempt of the game after Winslow keeper Stronge played a sloppy pass out. The Hawks midfielder volleyed it just wide of the post.

The second half continued as the first half ended with Winslow dominance and they backed this up with yet another goal. This time it was Scott Valentine who hit a rebound into the top corner, making it four nil to the home side.

Winslow missed narrowly with a shot from just outside the box from Freshwater and soon after Harlow also missed narrowly with a header from Ainsley Frimpong.

Harry Scott missed in unbelievable fashion when being found with a squared pass for Winslow. The miss heavily resembled Raheem Sterling’s famous miss against Lyon.

The game finished with Teddy Jones being sent off late. I personally didn’t see what happened that caused the sending off but it marked our 3rd red card in 2 games.

Overall, it was an incredibly poor game and Winslow were deserved winners.